Award-winning author Daniel Alarcón shared his latest work “The Night We Walked in Circles” last Wednesday and offered advice for aspiring novelists as part of the “Distinguished Writers Series” at CSU East Bay.

Reading his new novel in a strong, clear voice that showed a clear passion for his writing, Alarcón’s story captivated the audience in the packed Biella room with themes on war, theater, youth radicalism and Peruvian prisons.

The author frequently glanced up from his page while reading to make a quick connection with the audience, which benefitted the reading as his sentences were complex in length and structure, as well as potentially difficult for the audience to follow.

At one point Alarcón stopped his fluid reading when it appeared that he was missing page 12.

“I’m going to read the next section and pretend like this never happened,” he joked with the audience, which incidentally left the crowd on a cliffhanger, wanting to hear the lost part.

Alarcón received vigorous applause from the crowd, which was made up of teachers and students from various departments, and then initiated a question and answer session that allowed students to connect with such a distinguished author.

The room was quiet at first as students were shy to volunteer a question, but the author’s friendly attitude quickly warmed people up to him and led to a barrage of audience questions.
Students asked questions on a myriad of topics like writing contests, Alarcón’s perspective on writing since his work was published, the effect of technology on writing, the remix culture and of course his creative process.

“I was smiling when you asked [about my creative process] because the first word that came to my mind was antisocial. I work long days and prefer not to talk to anyone,” he said.
The author also touched on the important issue of why he writes his novels in English rather than Spanish. He explained Spanish was colloquial and while it does enhance verbal storytelling, English was better suited for his complex writing style.

After the question and answer session, Alarcon stayed for a book signing where students could approach the author personally.
Many students said they enjoyed the reading perhaps more than they initially thought.

“It was better than my expectations. I could sense his passion for writing,” said English major Megan Anthony.

Another English major Natalia Barcy said she came to the reading “to see how a successful writer creates his art and hear his advice to aspiring writers.”

At the end of the successful night for the author, Alarcon answered the most difficult question of all, “Why do you write?” to which he looked taken aback, as if he had never thought of this before, and yet with his simple answer seemed to inspire students to be proactive in their current education.

“I really love it. There is no money in it, nothing in it except the pleasure of writing stories,” said Alarcón. “I am a part of the tradition of storytelling.”